The creative genius that is Laura Blythman

Having already bought a gorgeous pineapple print by talented creative genius Laura Blythman as a gift for a friend and a “Throw glitter in today’s face” for myself, I have completely fallen in love with all of her stunning designs.

Each piece of art is an absolute wonder filled with beauty, colour and light. Each piece has so many intricate details yet they are presented in such whimsical, fun and irreverent fashion that you can’t but smile at each piece. Any of her pieces, would look amazing in any kids room or indeed anywhere in your house!

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Laura is a Melbourne based designer and illustrator whose works have featured across numerous well known Australian brands like Cotton on Kids, La De Dah kids and Lark.

I was very privileged to get to know a little more about the downright amazingly talented artist more about her life and work.

 Meet the Maker series with Laura Blythman:

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Tell us a little about yourself and your amazing career thus far?

After completing a BA in Graphic Design at The Australian Academy of Design, I cut my teeth working in-house at Hallmark Cards Australia, Cristina Re and Typo (Cotton On) before branching out into the freelance world.

Over the years I feel like I’ve designed and illustrated for a pretty diverse range of things: greeting cards, gift packaging, stationery, home office, decor, textiles, apparel, wedding and event stationery, brand identity, blogs, advertising, print collateral and web bits.

There are still A LOT of things on my wish list though. The dream is to create them under my own brand or through awesome collaborations with ace labels that I admire.Bedding, ceramics, soft furnishings, books… dreams.

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What inspires your designs?

This is always a hard question, because it’s actually a pretty unconscious thing. It’s just what I do, images get in my head and stay there for a while until I get them out on paper. Sometimes inspiration comes from colour, nature, music, friends, daydreaming or even just getting out my boxes and trays full of painted paper scraps and making things up as I go!

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All your pieces are filled with such vibrant intense colour, how do you go about creating each piece?

I’m drawn to colour because it just makes me so happy, it never fails to lift my mood. When I’m creating new work I decide on a colour palette first. Always. At present, I can’t get away from neon pink and peach.

Lately my process involves… covering loads of big sheets of beautiful watercolour paper in a variety of delicious colours and copper or gold leaf. Then I cut the sheets up into a million pieces and put them back together again as new artworks. I often add my signature hand drawn and painted detail too.

BLUE-BUNNYWhat was your favourite thing to draw or create as a child?

When I was young I always loved to cut, paste and layer paper and as a teen I would spend days drawing detailed illustrations of my teen idols (think – Eddie Vedder / Kurt Cobain. ha! )… Some of my happiest childhood memories revolve around the art and craft supplies I received as presents every birthday and christmas.

In my early 20′s while studying, I worked in Art supplies stores which really opened my eyes to other ways to be creative other than draw with a pencil. So I guess in some form or another I’ve always been doing exactly what I still do now. Drawing, cutting + pasting, creating, making things.

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What aspirations do you have for the future and what would be your dream project?

I’m secretly working on a job that has been on my list of dream opportunities and I can’t wait to be able to talk about that!  Another big dream of mine is to work on a collaborative range for an awesome local or international fashion or home ware’s label!  I also have so, so many very clever and creative friends who I’m hoping to collaborate with soon too.

Other than that I’m really focused on creating more art, exhibiting more and releasing more products.  I love what I do and I feel like I am on a good path, I just have to keep going, keep saying yes to amazing opportunities and trust my instincts.

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I love what you do as well Laura and so do so many others around the world. I cannot wait to see more from Laura in 2015.  This interview was from last year but excerpts were recovered from drafts on my old blog. 

If you love any of Laura’ prints, you can also find them on t-shirts, totes, pillowcases and vests at Club of Odd Volumes.

To check out more of her prints

All photos have been reproduced with the written permission of Laura Blythman.

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The Finders Keepers market – Sydney, December 2014

On a Friday night in early December I finally made it to my first  “The Finders Keepers” market! So many amazing Australian labels have found success at these markets that I was seriously excited to pay my $2 and explore the many stalls on offer at the brilliant Redfern Technology park in Sydney.

IMG_0210Natalie Miller Macrame workshop in full swing:

IMG_0214Below are some of my fave discoveries from the evening:

The Feather Tribe – a unique artist collective curated by the most gorgeous Jess and with some of my favourites already being stocked like Made by Mosey, Felt Foxes, this is one amazing shop to keep your eyes peeled to!    IMG_0218

IMG_0220Park Dasom – the sweetest of hand embroidered brooches and dolls.

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Beneath the Sun – for bright, fun and colourful kids decor, this is one brand that I adored!

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Freddy Alphabet – I was so excited to finally meet Selina from Freddy Alphabet and this Finders Keepers, they debuted a new design – the Superhero tee!

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Julie’s Little People – cute handmade little creatures all with their own name, character and style!

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   The Raisin Did it – I ran out of battery on both my phone and camera by the end of the markets but this label had some gorgeous designs with the cutest of pineapples and lions!

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The Smallest Tribe – a gorgeous label that designs and produces all their clothing from scratch using 100% GOTS certified organic cotton with earth friendly non toxic inks. I made the mistake of not buying that night and ordering a few weeks later but a lot of stock had been sold out! You have been warned…

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Laikonik – with their gorgeously designed “Baby Journal” in collaboration with Laura Blythman. A beautiful gift idea for any new born or baby shower!

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I cannot wait to go to my next The Finders Keepers market in Sydney next year to discover more new labels and fabulous designs! They are held twice yearly in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, so check them out when they come to your city next for some awesome finds!